Vuclip secures $13M in Series D from SingTel Innov8, existing investors

Mobile video service Vuclip has raised $13 million in Series D, led by a new investor, SingTel Innov8, besides existing investors NEA and Jafco Ventures, to further expand into new geographies and innovate on its platform.

The funding, led by the Singapore-headquartered VC fund SingTel Innov8, will be used to meet global demand, particularly in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and to implement further innovation around Vuclip's media and advertising platform.

Headquartered in Milpitas, California, Vuclip was co-founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Nickhil Jakatdar (CEO) and Zhigang Chen (CTO), and provides video on the fly – on any device and in any country. It also has offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Shenzhen, Beijing and Los Angeles.

Vuclip, which secured $8 million in Series C from NEA and Jafco in May last year, has a significant presence in India, and companies like UTV Motion Pictures, Reliance Entertainment and Bharti Airtel leverage its platform. The company claims to have hit 45 million active, unique users and 1.2 billion minutes of video viewing per month, and is close to a double-digit million-dollar revenue run rate.

It has also partnered with Vega, Whacked Out Media and MAA TV, Associated Press, etc., for monetising mobile video content. Global brands such as Cadbury and Samsung are also using the Vuclip platform. The company has recently introduced an iOS app and browser strategy to address the needs of all mobile video viewers.

Commenting on the funding, SingTel Innov8 MD Jeff Karras said, "Innov8 is focused on identifying the next generation of leaders in enterprise, network and digital media. Vuclip has built an impressive user base, monetisation strategy and management team, and is truly emerging as a leading mobile media company."

According to Nick Sturiale, general partner at Jafco Venture, Vuclip is poised to be a dominant global media services platform as it is the fastest-growing video service since YouTube, but has much better engagement.

Rohini Chakravarthy, partner at NEA, said, "Today, consumers have almost unlimited options for how they spend time on their mobile devices and Vuclip is clearly delivering content that consumers want to engage with. Sixty-five per cent of videos consumed via Vuclip are shared – this is an extraordinary rate of social sharing and it is driving tremendous growth in the company."

"We believe that growth in mobile video is being driven by three major factors – spread of low-cost smartphones, rapid growth of mobile-only internet users and demand for compelling content. We see this happen in emerging markets in ways that are different, compared to developed markets," said Vuclip CEO Jakatdar.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)